back to article IBM outsources UK desktop support operation lock+stock to Phoenix

IBM is the Global Services Provider (GSP) that is outsourcing desktop support to Phoenix IT Group, The Channel can reveal. Yesterday Phoenix confirmed it has penned a five-year £40m contract with an unnamed GSP to provide desk-side services for the firm's employees as well as its customers. Around 180 IBM staffers are to be …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    The Bank that I'm currently working for has moved to its third out-sourcing partner in less than ten years. The same staff are TUPE'd across each time and, funnily enough, the level of service never seems to improve.

    To my jaded eye the changes have little to do with the quality of service delivered and everything to do with keeping the ITIL project managers looking busy and providing a few good golf days for the decision makers.

    1. P. Lee

      ah, but you wouldn't want to mess up the earnings per employee ratio by bringing the function in-house, would you?

      Nobody gets bonuses for that!

  2. IT Justice

    I assume the reason Phoenix can do this and others cannot and they say they can make a money of this type of outsource deal / contact work is because they pay their Own Engineers and staff so badly at £13.000 not passing 16,000k starting rates and cut costs to the determent of the own staff i.e. ( no pay rises in 5 years ect..) , while the Directors and Mangers reap the short term rewards while the figures look good!!! I read that Phoenix themselves have Outsourced most of their contracts and staff under TUPE in favour of cloud services!!

    I doubt somehow they will get there returns they hope for having seen how badly all previous outsourcing deals have been handled by Phoenix and other companies which so far have left them all at a loss.

    It strikes me as funny that all the most recent directors taken on at Phoenix seem to have a background in TUPE! and then seem to bail with large bonus’s the moment there is a hint of irregularity!! or loss!!!!!

    When will they realise that outsourcing is rarely is cost effective in the long term for all concerned due to mounting logistic costs and external vendors costs and the service to the customer and quality suffers greatly due to increased time delays by third parties and limited resource to save money think on Phoenix....................(The future is cloud? is that not just the internet?)

  3. The Godfather
    Boffin

    Opaque deal?

    The question one must ask is why IBM have elected to outsource this particular desk top support function. Normally, outsourcing is to achieve reduction in costs, more so when a service does not deliver the required return. Phoenix saw a drop in revenue in the year end to March and its operating profit dropped from 29.6m to 7.9m. Profit before tax was 3.8m compared to 25.3m in the prior year. Not unlike many that have grown through acquisition, its asset structure is heavily laden with intangibles and the balance sheet carries a fair measure of significant long term debt. Let's see if Phoenix can make a profit out of this deal.

  4. TCMuffin
    Facepalm

    Do as I say, not as I do!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Remember

    What the last "Phoenix" named provider did to MG Rover?

  6. PeterM42
    FAIL

    Shuffle the sheep

    AKA:

    Oh the more it changes

    The more it stays the same

    The hand just re-arranges

    The pieces in the game

    Definitions of Outsourcing -

    1) Well known pretense at cost saving.

    2) Creator of wealthy people who profit from the deal

    3) Almost inevitable degradation of service.

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